NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Catcall ban: The Philippine president has signed a bill into law penalizing a range of acts of sexual harassment including catcalling, wolf-whistling and persistent telling of sexual jokes, which prowomen’s groups have accused him of committing. Philippine officials released on Monday a copy of Republic Act 11313, known as the “Safe Spaces Act,” which Duterte signed in April. The reason for the delay in its public release was not immediately clear. The bill’s main author has called the new law a “massive victory” against a growing culture of rude sexist actions. The law defines a range of offensive acts, including catcalling, wolfwhistling, intrusive gazing, cursing, misogynistic acts, sexist slurs and persistent telling of sexual jokes in public or online. Punishment includes fines and imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offense.
_2 Corruption probe: Former South Africa President Jacob Zuma appeared Monday before a state commission probing allegations of corruption during his tenure as the country’s leader. Zuma, South Africa’s president from 2009 until 2018, was forced to resign by his ruling African National Congress party over widespread reports of corruption and was replaced by his then deputy Cyril Ramaphosa. The Zondo Commission was created to investigate graft charges and the judicial inquest is a significant part of Ramaphosa’s drive to clean up corruption, his main campaign pledge in the May elections in which his party gained a 57% majority, its weakest since the end of apartheid 25 years ago. The commission is probing widespread allegations, including that members of a wealthy Indian business family, the Guptas, influenced Zuma’s appointment of cabinet ministers and subsequently swayed the awarding of lucrative state contracts. Several witnesses who have appeared before the commission have directly linked Zuma to the corruption allegations.
_3 Alan Turing: Code breaker and computing pioneer Alan Turing has been chosen as the face of Britain’s new 50pound note, the Bank of England announced Monday. Governor Mark Carney said Turing, who did groundbreaking work on computers and artificial intelligence, was “a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand.” During World War II, Turing worked at the secret Bletchley Park codebreaking center, where he helped crack Nazi Germany’s secret codes by creating the “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers. He also developed the “Turing Test” to measure artificial intelligence. After the war he was prosecuted for homosexuality, which was then illegal, and forcibly treated with female hormones. He died at age 41 in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide. Turing received a posthumous apology from the British government in 2009, and a royal pardon in 2013.
_4 Gulf security: The Netherlands is studying a U.S. request to provide military backing in the Strait of Hormuz to protect commercial shipping in the key passage. Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Stef Blok said Monday that the government would work through midSeptember assessing the request before making a decision. He said it depended on the military equipment that would be needed and the overall security risks. European Union nations are looking to deescalate tensions in the Persian Gulf area and are calling on Iran to stick to the 2015 nuclear deal signed with several world powers, despite the pullout of the United States from the accord and the reimposition of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.